Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Mr. Connerly will be speaking about the Arizona Civil Rights Initiative. The Arizona Civil Rights Initiative is the ballot measure that would eliminate affirmative action in public contracting, public employment and public education in AZ. The initiative was voted onto the November ballot unanimously by the Republicans in the House and Senate.

Superintendent of Public Schools
Candidate
State Senator John Huppenthal

is one of Arizona's leading authorities on education issues. In addition to being the current Senate Education Chairman, Huppenthal has served for 17 consecutive years on the State House and State Senate education committees.

"Improving Arizona's schools has been my life's work" said Huppenthal. "I've worked closely with teachers and parents on education issues for nearly two decades, so I'm very familiar with the challenges and opportunities Arizona schools face."

Huppenthal has articulated a vision for improving education in Arizona. As Superintendent of Public Instruction, Huppenthal would:

Expand parental choice in education.

End social promotion by directing parents towards the most academically productive schools, particularly those doing the most effective jobs in teaching reading and math skills at the k-3 level.

Improve customer support at the Department of Education, including providing strong technical support to teachers and school districts, and continuing to improve the licensing turn around time.

Establish a research council to create best practice models for our schools. This council will evaluate the best research for improving schools, and will shine a spotlight on our most academically productive schools in Arizona.

Provide more guidance to parents in choosing the best school for their child by building on Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) by measuring the percentage of parents rating their child's school quality of education excellent; and provide more guidance to parents and teachers by measuring and publicizing the percentage of teachers rating their school an "excellent place to work."

Enhance career and technical education by identifying more occupations, developing a world-class curricula and establishing certifications which guarantee students high paying jobs upon graduation.